In 2005, Cillian Murphy gave one in every of his best-known performances in “Batman Begins,” taking part in Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow in Christopher Nolan’s reboot of the Batman franchise. However that wasn’t the one villain he performed that summer time. The truth is, some would possibly even say it wasn’t the very best villain he performed that summer time. Launched simply two months after “Batman Begins” hit theaters, “Crimson Eye,” an uncharacteristically cerebral thriller from horror icon Wes Craven, starred Murphy as a scheming and manipulative murderer.
In “Crimson Eye,” Murphy performs Jackson Rippner (do not let that dissuade you from watching), a good-looking stranger onboard a purple eye flight to Miami that additionally occurs to be internet hosting Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams), a lodge supervisor who’s flying house following a funeral. The pair quickly discover themselves sitting collectively on the aircraft, which looks like the right charming rom-com meet cute. However issues shortly take a flip when it is revealed that Jackson is a part of a plot to assassinate the top of Homeland Safety and desires Lisa to assist him do it. With a view to coerce the lodge supervisor into swapping the official’s room quantity at her lodge, he is kidnapped Lisa’s father (Brian Cox), prompting a cat-and-mouse recreation between the 2 that makes “Crimson Eye” a examine, stable thriller from the late, nice Craven.
The director may be finest recognized for slashers similar to “A Nightmare on Elm Road” and “Scream,” however with “Crimson Eye” he switched gears considerably, delivering a taut psychological thriller that, for a lot of followers of the late horror maestro, is well among the best Wes Craven motion pictures. Now, the Netflix technology has been given an opportunity to revisit, or maybe expertise for the primary time, this under-appreciated gem — and it appears as if they’re loving it.
Crimson Eye has taken the Netflix viewers captive
As most will know, Cillian Murphy’s profile obtained an enormous enhance lately because of his Oscar-winning efficiency because the titular physicist in “Oppenheimer.” Hopefully, this prompted some viewers to look deeper into the person’s filmography, which is crammed with neglected gems like “Crimson Eye” — a movie that even managed to make /Movie’s personal listing of the very best Cillian Murphy motion pictures. Now, the thriller has hit Netflix, and an entire new technology is experiencing it for the primary time. What’s extra, if its chart efficiency to date is something to go by, it appears these new viewers are impressed.
“Crimson Eye” debuted on Netflix on July 1, 2025, and it did not take lengthy for the streamer’s subscribers to seek out it amid the platform’s ever-expanding deluge of “content material.” In line with FlixPatrol, a website that tracks streaming viewership figures, the movie managed to crack the US High 10 motion pictures chart on July 2 when it hit quantity eight, earlier than disappearing from the rankings the next day. However on July 5, it made a return, charting at quantity 10 earlier than falling to quantity 9 the next day and holding sturdy in that very same spot on the time of writing.
For now, the film is sitting behind Charlize Theron’s 2020 superhero movie “The Outdated Guard” … although, contemplating /Movie’s Chris Evangelista referred to as that movie an “immortal bore that wastes an incredible premise,” “Crimson Eye” ought to have the ability to at the least maintain sturdy if not acquire some floor.
Is Crimson Eye price watching?
The Netflix charts do not all the time serve up probably the most intriguing movies and reveals, however “Crimson Eye” is a kind of motion pictures deserving of a Netflix renaissance. Not solely did it make $96.6 million on a $26 million price range and obtain crucial reward upon its preliminary launch, however it’s additionally extra influential than you would possibly suppose. Simply earlier this yr, “Drop” director Christopher Landon even managed to pay homage to Craven and his under-appreciated horror-thriller by infusing his personal film with a lot of what made “Crimson Eye” so nice — most notably with the 2 movies primarily going down in a single location.
In case you’re nonetheless not satisfied, contemplate that “Crimson Eye” has a really respectable 80% on Rotten Tomatoes, and in contrast to some motion pictures whose constructive RT scores are made up of a number of lukewarm critiques which have fallen into the overly simplistic “Recent” and “Rotten” binary, the “Recent” critiques for “Crimson Eye” are all very complimentary.
Scott Tobias of the AV Membership wrote, “If setting up a thriller could possibly be likened to constructing a home, then Wes Craven’s ‘Crimson Eye’ is an ideal piece of structure.” This effectivity with which Craven constructed his thriller was observed by different reviewers, too. The New Yorker’s David Denby was impressed by what he referred to as a “sophisticated duel” between the 2 principal characters, which, he wrote, “will depend on exact remark of bodily element and moment-by-moment continuity so intently calibrated that it is unimaginable to discover a wasted shot or an exaggerated emotion.” Stephen Hunter of the Washington Put up, in the meantime, referred to as the movie “tightly targeted,” observing that it recalled “not a lot in the present day’s bloated, computer-crazed movies, however tighter melodramas of the ’50s.” The Netflix charts won’t all the time be the very best “what to look at” information, then, however you possibly can’t actually go fallacious with “Crimson Eye.”
